portland council
TRANSCRIPT
Navy League Portland Council
5:00 Arrival 5:30 Social Hour 6:30 Navy League program USS Portland, USS Oregon status Ship & base tour schedules
7:00 Buffet dinner 7:30 US Coast Guard Eagle presentation Jake Jacobs, Board Member, Navy League, Portland Council
Ken Bray, President Gary Piercy, Vice President Navy League board of directors
Summer dinner and program August 17, 2019
Welcome!
US Coast Guard Barque Eagle
America’s oldest commissioned active military ship
Jake Jacobs 2019
New London, CT
Coast Guard Academy
Two missions • Training • Public relations
Thames River
Eagle’s Crew
7 officers, 50 enlisted +150 Cadets
6 to 8 weeks aboard in 4 years
Captain Matt Meilstrup
A True Sailing Ship
Royal Topgallent Upper topsail Lower topsail Course
1200 HP MTU 8 cylinder
Replaced Caterpillar 1000 HP in 2018
Diesel Power
My Cruises
August 19-30, 2015 Portsmouth VA - Baltimore Inner harbor
March 17-29, 2016 Savanna to Baltimore Curtis Bay
April 29-May 5-2017 Little Creek, VA to New London, CT
August 11-18, 2017 Pier 86 NYC to Little Creek, VA
2019 Cruise
April 30 - May 12, 2019 Portsmouth UK Oslo, Norway Kiel, Germany
1,200 miles
Training cadets
Duties aboard
Climbing the rigging
Hosting the sails
Holding the course
6 sailors in heavy seas
Celestial Navigation
Apparent noon with Sextant
36°50.5’N 73°40.1’W
Dead reckoning
Reveille
The racks
2+ workouts per day
The head
Water tight hatches
Swim call in the Gulf Stream
Shark patrol
82 deg
Polishing & Painting
Captain Meilstrup
Shipshape for tours
Shine the brass
Painting training room
Public Relations
• Public ship tours
• Private receptions on deck
• Dignitary dinners
America’s Tall Ship
Dignitary Receptions
Wardroom
2019 Ports of call
New London CT Savannah GA Curtis Bay MD Portsmouth UK Oslo, Norway Kiel, Germany Copenhagen DK Antwerp Belgium
Cherbourg France Rouen France The Netherlands Azores Bermuda Portsmouth NH Salem MA New York Philadelphia New London CT
March 9 – October 6
Portsmouth England
US Ambassador to UK
Social and speeches
Gourmet Delights
Leaving Portsmouth UK
White cliffs of Dover
Oslo Norway
Norway Minister of Defense
Akershus Fortress 1299
Kiel Germany
Boat arrival German officers ride in
Boarding officials
Captain Wetters
1938 - Captain Wetters father
2019
81 years later…..
Naming of the USS Quentin Walsh DDG 132
Navy Secretary Richard Spencer Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Karl Schultz Quentin Walsh family members – Navy Cross
Guided missile destroyer Honoring USCG WWII hero
Aboard USCG Eagle in Cherbourg France June 6, 2019
Change of Command New London, CT July 27
Capt Meilstrup and Capt Turdo (29th commander)
Vice Adm. Scott Buschman Presents Legion of Merit
85 port calls 3,300 trainees 250,000 visitors 75th D-Day celebrations 150 Canada anniversary $28M upgrade
2015-2019
The Eagle’s history
Kriegsmarine Horst Wessel
Blohm and Voss Hamburg, Germany Built 83 years ago Hull # 608 Hull #609 Bismark
German ship
Horst Wessel
Who was / What was Horst Wessel?
Why was this name chosen for the ship?
Horst
Horst Wessel Nazi Storm Trooper
Nazi anthem composer
“Assassinated” 1930
Age 22
Sieg Heil
Die Fahne hoc Raise The Flag
Kriegsmarine Horst Wessel
June 13, 1936 Christening
Christened by Horst Wessel’s mother
Hitler in attendance
The Barque of Saviors
1938 - Hitler with Admiral Raeder and Captain Thiele
• Training • Transport • Anti-Aircraft
Six 20MM guns Shot down five allied aircraft
1936 - 1945 Seamanship Training
Submarine Cadets and Petty Officers
Horst Wessel
Battle of Drøbak Sound Norway
Eagle’s southbound waypoints
Three 11” guns facing south
Torpedo bunker
Heavy cruiser Blücher Sunk with 50% of crew
Former Horst Wessel Captain Thiele Cruiser #2 - Turned armada around
German submarines
1,200 U-boats built 784 were lost
Combat ended May 5, 1945 cease fire U-853 Sunk May 6, 1945 - Block Island, Rhode Island
• Enigma code broken • US anti-sub warfare
May 7, surrender
Many sub captains trained on Horst Wessel
Final loss….
Horst Wessel 1946
Horst Wessel damaged
Bremerhaven, Germany War had ended…..
1946 World War II Reparation
Bremerhaven, Germany
USCG Ship Captain CDR Gordon McGowan
Commissioned May 15, 1946
5 months of repairs --Sails, lines, rudder, engine, eagle, paint
US Coast Guard Eagle
1946 Bremerhaven
Kapitänleutenant Schnibbe Captain McGowen
German crew
7 USCG officers and 55 crew
9 German officers and 40 crew
Bremerhaven Falmouth, UK Funchal, Madeira Bermuda New York New London, CT May 30 – July 9
Hurricane
The Skipper & the Eagle
USCG Captain Gordon McGowan
Author
Published 1960 & 1998
Former Captain of the Eagle Sailed to Germany 1996
Spoke with him aboard Eagle in 2017
Captain Papp Sea stories with former German crew
Afterword by Admiral Robert Papp
A Perfect Lady by Tido Holtkamp Is an excellent pictorial history with many black and white photos
Presidential Visits
The Eagle has hosted Presidents Truman and Kennedy Most US presidents have visited the USCG Eagle
9/20/1952
9/15/1962
Morrie Craig, Ph.D Portland Navy League
US Coast Guard Barque Eagle WIX 327 NRCB
295 feet long 39 feet beam Steel hull ½” 1700 tons 16 foot draft 23 sails 2,300 feet of sail 192 lines 50 full time crew 150 trainees 17 knots under sail (20 mph)
12 knots under power
Captain Meilstrup - Best job in the Coast Guard- I make a positive
impact on the next generation of Coast Guard officers and enlisted
crew, all while representing the nation, the department & the service.
Executive Officer LCDR Brooke Millard
As a university professor I taught lessons of English
As a leader on the Eagle I teach lessons of life.
Chief Kevin Johnson
I help the cadets develop and expand a positive attitude as they
accomplish seemingly impossible tasks aboard the ship.
Positive attitude cannot be taken from you. Has to be given away.
Positive attitude = Positive life.
Officer comments (paraphrased)
Video
6 minute video of operations aboard USCG Eagle
On YouTube
https://youtu.be/XmEAt3rbIZ8
Anchors Aweigh
Thank you for watching…